Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Walkabout Days

Monday-Thursday
November 25-28, 2013
Walkabout Family Campground
Woodbine Georgia

 

 

Here’s a flyby view of our past 4 days at Walkabout.  We’ll be here one more and leave on Saturday for Florida, FINALLY.  Sure hope they have warmer weather planned for us!  I’ve definitely learned my lesson about November anywhere north of Florida or the desert in Arizona or California.  Any suggestions for a warm November next year, please send them on.

 

MONDAY

 

Monday windy 001   

It is 33 degrees when we wake  up this morning to prepare to leave Hunting Island.  The palms are thrashing  around as is the ocean.  Pretty cold  to be outside packing  up. 

Luckily we did most of it yesterday but given the sandy and piney conditions we still  have to clean  the roof, the slide toppers and  the jacks as well as unhook the water and  electric before we can leave.   We wait for a while for the temperature to get up to at least 40 and then after a stop at the dump station we are off down the road for 158 miles to Walkabout Family Camp and RV Park in Woodbine Georgia just north of the Florida line.

 

Monday windy 002

 

 

On the way, we stop to do some grocery shopping and look for a couple  of specific holiday gifts for my 93 year old father.  If I don’t want to pay a fortune to send them to Colorado I need to have them in the mail the first week  of December.   One thing leads  to another and it is 5:00 by the time we pull  in where Bill and Nancy Mills have been parked since noon having come 300 miles.  Makes me laugh at the difference.  They came from Port Lucie today on their way north.  Guess cold weather wasn’t a factor in their start time.

 

Nancy & Bill MillsA

They are here for an overnight on their way back to South  Carolina after some glorious weeks in the Keys.  Yes they are definitely going  in the wrong direction.  

It is too funny when they get get of their rig to say Hi.  David and I are dressed in sweatshirts and fleece and  they are in short sleeves, shorts and sandals.  I’m so sorry I don’t get a picture  of the 4 of us in our opposite attires before Nancy gets too cold and goes in to change.  But in the dinner  picture, you can see Bill still in his shorts and  short sleeve  shirt while Nancy and I have on long sleeve sweatshirts and I have on fleece pants.

We get together for dinner at Nancy’s kind invitation to share some of her delicious potato soup.   Just the right food for this weather and it is yummy.  We have a great time catching up on  all  their fun in the Keys and sharing elderly parent reports.   Nancy’s mother and my father are in their 90’s and in assisted living homes.  There are some pretty funny stories about both of them.

Nancy and Bill will leave early in the morning no doubt so we say our good byes  early knowing we will see them again in Florida in January.

 

 

 

TUESDAY

 

 

Rainy Tuesday 003

 

The rain starts just after we leave Nancy and Bill’s at about 8:00 last night and goes on for pretty much the entire day today.  So what do you do in the rain?  Oh,  pay bills, do the laundry, change the bed, clean the house.  All those same chores everyone else  does.  

 

 

 

You can see how I feel about it all  from my sweatshirt which says “I don’t wanna”.

 

 

laundry 004C

 

Walkabout is a Passport America  park which was purchased about 5 years ago by a young  Australian Couple,  thus the name.  They are the greatest  people and have 4 wonderful  children.  The oldest daughter Kaitlyn who  is now 14 has been managing the desk like she was an adult since they bought  it.   She checked us in the first time we ever stopped  here and I was sold immediately.   Her dad Troy says she’s not so keen on it any more.  She’d rather play softball.  But today when I need more change for the washers, Troy and the boys were gone and  Kaitlin was in the office.  It was good to see her again.  She also gave me the wifi password.

 

Walkabout chickens 012

 

There are a dozen free range chickens picking up the bugs all around.  A dozen delicious fresh eggs is $3.50.   It’s a great place to stay.

 

 

 

 

 

Walkabout chickens 013

The rains  let off for about two hours between 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon and then come back with a vengeance all night long.  There was a tornado watch and  predictions  of up to 50mph wind  gusts.  Time  to bring in the slides.

 

 

WEDNESDAY

 

Sinking slide 009

I think I have shown a picture of our slide maladjustment in a previous blog.   David got the fix-it instructions from Winnebago but wasn’t able to get them to work so I talked him into calling a mobile tech, who also comes highly recommended but couldn’t get it despite over 2 hours of effort and multiple calls to HWH and Winnebago.  Apparently the adjusting screw just WILL NOT TURN.  So our $200 buys us a shim and he reinstalled the bushing on the Ram cylinder which had again come out.  He tells us that shimming is what he would do if it was his rig and is sometimes the only way to make them level again.  Makes me nervous.  What do you all think? 

Where is one to go to get things like this fixed?  We’ve had some questionable experience with Lazy Days and we sure aren’t going to Forest City Iowa in December.  David fears we would have to have the Ram Cylinder removed in order to replace that screw and make it work again.  So he’s liking the shim idea.  The tech also tells us that according to the manual with motor homes you should have your slides adjusted every couple of years.  No one has ever mentioned this before.

Whenever something mechanical is going on, despite the 20mph winds and low 50’s temperatures there are guys who want to find out about it.  The fella in the short sleeves is from Wisconsin. :-)

 

While they were outside freezing, I was inside nice and warm and seeding a pomegranate.  I love the seeds and this is the season.  Are they a gorgeous color??

 

Sinking slide 006

 

It went down to 31 here tonight.  I just don’t know what to say about this continuing deep freezing in southern Georgia and Northern Florida in November.  Climate Chaos!   What are we doing and why are we not more worried about it?

 

 

THURSDAY

 

More cold weather.  In fact it’s cold enough to freeze my feathers off when we wake up this Thanksgiving morning.  27 degrees in south Georgia.  Here’s how we’re dressing as we hang out for the morning waiting for it to warm up.

 

Cold Thanksgiving 001

 

We hope you are all enjoying a wonderful WARM holiday with family and friends and not TOO much food.  Most of you know that Carrie will not be with us this year for the first time ever.  But that’s what happens when you have a new job, not a ton of vacation yet and want to come at Christmas which is only 3 weeks away. 

We are missing her and hope this will be our only Thanksgiving without her. 

We have  our dinner this year with the folks in the park at the potluck put on by Troy and Suze and their children Kaitlyn, Liam, Cameron, and Savannah.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the boys helps Troy set up.  

T'giving dinner 001 Elegant wine glasses and decanter befit the occasion.
T'giving dinner 002

 

 

 

Our young enthusiastic host and hostess welcome everyone.  We think there were between 40 and 50 people in attendance.  It is a tad depressing that this lovely woman has 4 children and the oldest is 14.  That’s about how old she looks. :-) SIGH………

T'giving dinner 005

 

 

One of the two tables of food.   Everything any Thanksgiving table could want.

T'giving dinner 009

 

A third table for all the deserts.  Cherry, pecan, pumpkin and apple pies.  And two cakes.  Enough for even my sweet tooth.

 

T'giving dinner 010

 

 

David is enjoying one of his TWO plates of food.  Just beyond  him is my plate. We both have dessert too of course.   We love our partitioned pot luck plates.  We can easily sample a dab of this and a dab  of that. 

 

T'giving dinner 008

 

 

David thanks Troy and Suze for putting the gathering together.  Everybody had  more than enough to eat that’s for sure.

 

T'giving dinner 011

 

We’re here  for one more day and then we will be stopping at Anastasia State Park for a 3 day look around and visit to St. Augustine before heading down to Sebastian Inlet State Park.  If you have any suggestions for must dos or must sees please let me know.

 

Hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving !!

22 comments:

  1. I'm sure you have already planned to visit the Castillo de San Marcos and of course, the lighthouse! Anastasia is a very nice park.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving, we had one with family in Tampa and and now back at the cabana with Kitty.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks scrumptious! what a nice day ... even though sans Carrie... but at least there will be Christmas time... it's still cold here ... from 19 this morning to 34 right now at 11pm... heading back to 30 and below... man oh man

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those waves look threatening. Guess you wouldn't have had time to go for a swim anyway. ;) All you have to do is throw up the hood or get out some tools at an RV park and it calls in any man within sight, and a few out of sight as well. Sure looks like a wonderful spread with even enough desserts. Too bad Carrie wasn't there but Christmas is right around the corner. And hopefully in a warmer location.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We've met Troy at Walkabout but haven't met his wife. He's a very nice young man but certainly doesn't look old enough to have four children! That was really nice of them to host a potluck for their guests. Happy Thanksgiving to you both!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a nice thing for Troy and Suze to do for Thanksgiving Dinner...that looks like quite a spread;o)) Really hating the cold also. If it helps, I just saw the long range forecast for this winter and the southeast is suppose to be warmer than average starting in Mid December. Let's hope so!!!

    Safe Travels and can't wait for an Anatasia Report....

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVE that picture of David on the sofa with the laptop. He looks happy and HEALTHY! Can't wait to show it to Bill when he wakes up - he can so identify with the toboggan indoors. For reasons I'm sure you understand, he's been wearing his toboggan to BED!! I know you all were waiting for Winona to warm up, but I still just loved that picture. Great post - safe travels today!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm glad you're finally going to be back in Florida. You should probably get warmer temps in Sebastian, but not sure about Anastasia. When we lived in south Georgia (near the Florida line), we were shocked at how much colder it was than just 275 miles south in Tampa. We probably will head south a little earlier next year, but we didn't really mind the cold in the mountains, because we knew we would soon be headed south to warmer temps.

    It looks like you got enough to eat. Sorry Carrie wasn't able to come.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Troy & Suze are such cool people. Love listening to them talk :-) Looks like a nice feast as well!

    ReplyDelete
  10. check out Fort Mantazas, a national historic site and it even comes with a free boat ride and historical narrative along with all the dolphins in the water... small nature trail but a nice place to spend a few hours

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad you enjoyed your Thanksgiving even with out Carrie, it was our first holiday with one of the boys in awhile. We get the funny looks when we are out in short sleeves even here in Phoenix, everyone else is all bundled up in jackets, guess we still have some thicker blood in us. Hope you find the warmer temps soon, wonder what TX has in store for us.

    ReplyDelete
  12. We must have that thin Florida blood in our veins now. We are still in the Keys and it got down to 59* a couple of nights ago. It felt chilly to us. We will be in for a rude awakening when we head back up to Tampa soon. Enjoy the Olde Town area of St Augustine. It may be a bit touristy but it's nicely done in my opinion.
    Syl

    ReplyDelete
  13. Being very thankful for my good appetite , I ate too much again, but it was fun.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a nice Thanksgiving. We'll be putting this CG on our short list.

    You don need to head South and get tans like Bill and Nancy have. That is if the sun can penetrate all your feathers...

    Never heard that slides need to be adjusted every couple of years, that's a new one on me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. That was a delicious looking spread you had for dinner. Say, I think you are caught up on your blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. The desert southwest is usually nice in November, I am told. That is where we will be next year, for sure.

    The Buff Orpington and Barred Rock chickens bring back great memories of our sticks and bricks. And free fresh eggs

    I had to laugh as I read your description of the fine stemware and decanter. I was looking to see it and the joke was on me! What fun.

    I am sure you missed Carrie a lot. It is so hard to have a loved one missing at the dinner table. Hang in there Christmas is coming.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I always LOVED the potlucks when on the road.. found memories of all the wonderful people/food/comradrie.. hope you all stay warm!!! That was the coldest I ever was, in the Florida panhandle, who would have guessed???

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm snacking on leftover mashed potatoes and gravy while reading your blog so I'm not too envious of the spread you enjoyed, though I wouldn't mind a slice of pie.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Don'tcha love those folks from Wisconsin & Minnesota who run around in the cold south in short sleeves? I think the worst part about leaving in the cold is having to dump the tanks. I wouldn't mind disconnecting electric or water or any of the other jobs as much as dealing with the waste tanks! But I hated it in good weather too.

    ReplyDelete
  20. so. . .in last weeks blog you were swimming in the Atlantic. . .and now here you are. . .bundled to the nines. . .and I got a chuckle out of David sitting on the couch. . .all bundled in his outer gear :)

    I don't believe I've ever tasted a pomegranate. . .must add that to my list!

    Hope you find somewhere warm soon!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wow--four days in one post! You are caught up for the time being. Sorry to hear you did not get to enjoy Carrie's company at Thanksgiving. We are grateful to get at least one of two winter holidays with any of our four children and their families. This year will be zero for four. We may need to re-evaluate our choice of spending winters on the east coast.

    Enjoy St. Augustine!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Very nice summary of a few cold days! I LOVE the 'I don't wanna!' sweatshirt - too perfect :) Looks like you had quite a feast for Thanksgiving!! I suppose for 40 or 50 guests you'd have to have A LOT. The owners do look quite young - maybe she's my age - had her first around 20. Sounds like her life is pretty good :) I was sorry to miss Thanksgiving, BUT, it's 22 days til our thanksgiving/solstice/Christmas beach vacation!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are the best part of this blog for me.
I LOVE hearing from you!